The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

I don't have much in the way of awareness of the space you're working with, but it looks to me as if you might have the option to do something even wider and potentially scenic it. Who doesn't love a cinder-filled, weedy-a$$ late-70s-era yard? Full of old pallets, trash, and discarded dunnage... Would contrast nicely with the very trim and proper Southern hamlet on the main layout!

That’s certainly possible with the forever plan, but, for now, I’m keeping it simple.  I want to confirm that the “folding” characteristic of the staging yard is no longer needed before I commit to something a little more grandiose. To get to the backside of the layout where Aberdeen is, you have to go around the end of the staging yard.  I’m not certain how much area I want to give up yet.

Thanks,
DFF

[Dave V]

That’s certainly possible with the forever plan, but, for now, I’m keeping it simple.  I want to confirm that the “folding” characteristic of the staging yard is no longer needed before I commit to something a little more grandiose. To get to the backside of the layout where Aberdeen is, you have to go around the end of the staging yard.  I’m not certain how much area I want to give up yet.

Thanks,
DFF

Yeah, I kind thought that might be the case, and in that case, I totally get wanting to limit the length and girth (TWSS) of the yard. Might still be fun to weed it up though. Silver sun-bleached ties sunken into cinder and mud with weeds everywhere...

[davefoxx]

Agreed!  Oh, and I lied; now, deconstruction is complete.



DFF

[Chris333]

Turnout to the around-the-walls extension 

[davefoxx]

Turnout to the around-the-walls extension 

And with a helix!  Yeah, that’s the ticket!

~Tommy Flanagan

[davefoxx]

I made good progress this evening by reinstalling the folding staging yard.  It was very fiddly and needed three hands to finagle it into the proper horizontal and vertical orientation, to keep the track in line and flat as it crosses the joint between the fixed layout edge and the folding shelf.  Here is the shelf in the dropped position:



Here’s the shelf deployed:



And with the rolling shelves that will live under the staging yard for two reasons: (1) it saves floor space in the layout room, and (2) it will, hopefully, prevent people from haphazardly walking into the staging yard and doing serious damage to the layout.  Maybe out of the corner of your eye, you might miss the shelf, but you probably wouldn’t miss that shelving unit sitting there.



Cork!  You can see that I cut all of the tracks back from the edge.  I will install the track across the joint and cut the gaps later.  Especially important are the gaps to the far right track, as that needs to be an insulated joint for the end of the reversing block.  The other two tracks are fully within the reversing block.



DFF

[davefoxx]

I started tracklaying tonight.  It wasn’t without some adversity.  That new turnout had some issues, causing the first passenger car to pick the points.  Some judicious filing has at least got it through without consistent derailments.  Time will tell if I need to tweak that turnout further.

I also had clearance issues against the folding yard’s fence, but I shifted the passenger train’s track over 1/8” and it’s good now.  I’m concerned about the clearance of pilots tagging the fence on the other side, when going through the crossover.  Absolute worst case scenario, I will cut a hole for clearance in the fence.  I’m sort of bound by the dimensions of that crossover, so it’s tighter than preferred.  On the straight track, there’s plenty of clearance; I just forgot about the pilots swinging out in curved track.

The first train has (finally) successfully made it into staging.



I’ll finish the rest of the tracks and complete the wiring by this coming weekend.

DFF

[davefoxx]

All track is permanently installed, and the gaps are cut.  I even tested folding the yard down and the re-deploying it, to see if there would be any problem with the rail joints.  All is well.  Wiring is next, because, with those gaps cut, there’s no power to the staging yard.



DFF

[Philip H]

As always you are making good creative use of the space you have. Now go ballast the thing!

[davefoxx]

As always you are making good creative use of the space you have. Now go ballast the thing!

The folding yard is merely staging, so I don’t plan on ballasting it, but I do have to ballast the track that was replaced on the main layout.  So, touché!

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

Aaaaaaaaaand . . . it’s lives!



This picture demonstrates the improvement and the use of this staging:

1) The addition of the third track at left, providing a space to get a three-car passenger train out of the way when I want to run freight ops.  This reduces the risk of damage, due to less handling.  Since I change eras, this train will come off the layout from time-to-time, but that no longer needs to occur as often.  And, at times when no passenger train is on the layout, there’s a whole other track for the addition of freight car capacity.

2) The stub at right is the caboose track. It’s what inbound motive power uses to run around the train and then spot the caboose before tying down on the middle track for servicing.

3) Other bonuses include shifting that crossover, so that now two six-axle locomotives can fit into that stub, to run around its train.  This was only big enough for two Geeps in the prior version.  Also, I have a little more room and could even add a switcher or another set of power without jamming up the staging yard.

All feeders are dropped and tied in.  All that remains is tidying up the wiring under the staging yard.

DFF

[peteski]

The folding yard is merely staging, so I don’t plan on ballasting it, but I do have to ballast the track that was replaced on the main layout.  So, touché!

Thanks,
DFF

Folding yard?  I think they use that concept in Britain in those small portable layouts. 
Yes, I know it is a typo - I do plenty of those.

[davefoxx]

Nope, not a typo.  It really can fold down, saving me floor space in the layout room.  However, now that the layout is mostly finished and I don’t want to do heavy construction in here anymore (aaaah, dust!), I may find someday that I’ll be able to live with a longer non-folding staging yard that would add even more capacity.

Thanks,
DFF

[peteski]

It really folds? Ah, ok. Still this appears similar to what British modelers use to save space.

[davefoxx]

I neatened up the wiring to the staging yard with the reinstallation of the telephone jack, which had to be shifted due to the yard moving over 1-1/8”.  A new RJ12 connector and phone wire to a barrier strip allows the connection to the track feeders.  A couple of cable staples provide strain relief, because those teeny phone wires can be delicate.  It’s still easy peasy to unplug the phone jack when folding down the yard.



Those staples also keep the cable tucked in tight, so that the rolling shelves don’t snag it.



DFF